Al Jazeera’s hope, presumably, is that broad numbers of Americans will gradually be won over by the range and diversity of its news and programming, writes Tony Burman.

In 2004, well before either Al Gore or I imagined that something called Al Jazeera would one day feature in our respective futures, I remember taking him around the CBC newsroom in Toronto in my role as head of CBC news and current affairs. I was extolling the virtues of our international coverage. The former U.S. vice president had just purchased Newsworld International, an American news channel once owned by the CBC, which was continuing to use the CBC as its main news provider.

Our mission that day was to convince him to continue using the CBC, even though his new youth-centric news channel — which eventually became known as Current TV — was headed in an entirely different direction. Alas, we didn’t succeed. For me at least, the highlight of the Toronto visit turned out to be when a young CBC producer accidentally bumped into him and gasped: “You look like Al Gore’s twin!”

I was thinking of that trip earlier this month when it was announced that Gore had just sold Current TV to Al Jazeera for an amount that was reported to be a cool $400 million to $500 million. Even in Gulf terms, that’s a big number. Between 2008-10, I was managing director of the Al Jazeera English channel based in Qatar and, after that, I worked in Washington for a year as Al Jazeera’s chief strategic adviser for the Americas until returning to Toronto in September 2011.

This sale is certain to shake up the U.S. media world. It challenges the selective fealty of the American political and corporate class to the principle of true free expression. It reveals how aggressively the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, wants to expand its global profile and influence in the U.S. And Al Jazeera, which has always had an ambivalence about its mission in the U.S., will be forced to take America and its story seriously if it truly wants to attract American viewers.

Al Jazeera is not paying for Current TV’s programming or for its audience, which is minuscule. It is paying for its contractual access through U.S. cable and satellite companies to roughly 40 million American households. This is about 10 times the distribution that Al Jazeera currently has in the U.S. It’s like buying Al Gore’s Rolodex.

This sale is a huge gamble for Al Jazeera. Companies that refused to carry Al Jazeera for political reasons will be forced to distribute Al Jazeera America when it replaces Current TV. Time Warner Cable in New York City has already dropped Current TV and says it won’t broadcast Al Jazeera. One wonders what will happen to Al Jazeera America over the next few years when other cable and satellite contracts expire. There have also been suggestions it may have to end its popular online streaming in the U.S. to accommodate these contracts.

Al Jazeera’s hope, presumably, is that broad numbers of Americans will gradually be won over by the range and diversity of its news and programming. A large part of my role with Al Jazeera English, particularly in the U.S. and Canada, was to urge people to get past the post-Sept. 11 fear-mongering and appreciate the channel’s editorial accomplishments and numerous prestigious awards.

It was striking that, in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to Qatar and asked to meet senior Al Jazeera officials. I was part of that meeting and her message was that the Obama administration regarded Al Jazeera as part of the “solution,” not the “problem” in the Middle East.

Al Jazeera’s challenge won’t be an easy one. My sense of Al Jazeera today is that it is becoming a more “top-down,” centrally driven news operation than ever before. All news programs and most editorial decisions now come out of Qatar.

Al Jazeera America will force it to change if it wants to succeed. For news channels to thrive in the U.S., America’s story must be “made in America.” Al Jazeera has time to turn it around before “the lights go on” in these 40 million homes, but not much time. The American TV marketplace waits for no one, and rarely grants a second chance.